


Tradition

by youwerefantasticrose



Category: Doctor Who, Roski - Fandom, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-29
Updated: 2013-03-29
Packaged: 2017-12-06 22:04:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/740652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youwerefantasticrose/pseuds/youwerefantasticrose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose teaches Loki about mistletoe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tradition

The credits roll on the Christmas special on the telly, and Rose sits up with a sigh, clicking the TV off.

“What’s wrong?” Loki asks, feeling suddenly colder without her nestled into his side.

“It’s nothin’,” she says, eyes on the floor. “Just… Christmas.”

 

“What about it?”

“’S complicated. I don’t know. I used to love Christmas, but now…”

He just looks at her. She lifts her head, their eyes meeting.

“I mean, look at this place,” she continues hurriedly. “I’ve been so busy with work, I haven’t even gotten a chance to decorate or anythin’. Not even a tree.”

“A tree?” he asks, his brow furrowed.

“Yeah, a Christmas tree! You decorate it, with pretty lights and ornaments and everything. It’s a tradition.”

He nods slowly, clearly thinking how ridiculous the whole idea sounds. She’s told him a bit about the holiday, but it makes little sense to him. Yet another silly Midgardian tradition.

“It’s too late now, though, I suppose,” she says, standing up and stretching a bit. “Christmas is only three days from now, and I still have to work tomorrow.”

For a minute she seems to be elsewhere, her eyes hazy with memories, of what he doesn’t know. He just stares at her, noticing the vague sadness in her eyes, and he’s overwhelmed by the desire to do something about it, to take her in his arms, to cut down a million trees for her to decorate, to even bake if it’ll make her smile. But he stays where he is.

“Good night, Loki,” she says, finally back in the present. She gives him a small smile before leaving the room, and he stays on the sofa, mind working.

***

A few hours into the next day at work, and Rose is exhausted. She trudges through piles of paperwork, each form seeming longer than the last, until she feels like her hand is made of lead. Finally she looks up at the clock and it’s time to go. She heads out of the building, the cold wind refreshing as she steps outside. She decides to walk home, reveling in the hustle and bustle of the streets. They’re full of people and laughter and Christmas decorations everywhere.

She suddenly wishes she’d found the time to do something for Christmas. Things aren’t exactly cheery in her flat, though they have gotten better now that she isn’t always alone.

Loki, she thinks, a smile starting on her lips. If any two people needed some Christmas cheer, it was her and Loki.

She decides to stop at a street vendor’s cart, looking for something simple to bring home, something to brighten up the flat at least a little. Not much left, the day before Christmas Eve, but she manages to find a fairly nice Christmas wreath. As she pays the man, she notices something else, and she points to it with a grin. The man fetches it for her, and she heads home with a little spring in her step.

***

“Loki?”

She steps in the door, setting her things down on the table in the entryway. She walks forward into the doorway of the living room, and stops with a gasp.

In the middle of the living room is a good-sized Christmas tree, covered in twinkling lights. She stares at it in awe, her hand covering her mouth.

“Does it look all right?” Loki asks. He’s standing next to her, eyes on her face.

She turns toward him, and smiling widely, throws her arms around him. He hesitates, then hugs her back, smiling slightly himself.

She pulls back to look at him, her arm still around his neck.

“’S beautiful!” she exclaims. “But how…”

“I may have done some research,” he says, and she raises her eyebrows questioningly.

“Our neighbors had plenty of the traditional decorations, and lax security.”

Her eyes widen.

“You didn’t—”

He laughs. “No, Rose, all of their decorations are intact. I just needed to see them, and then they were easy to duplicate.”

She pulls him back into a hug, squeezing him tightly, her smile wide. As she hugs him, something above them catches her eye, and she pulls away to get a better look.

“Loki, is that… mistletoe?”

Above them in the doorway hang six little boughs of mistletoe, each tied with a red ribbon.

“I suppose; I didn’t know the name,” he says, looking up at them. “It’s a traditional Christmas decoration, isn’t? Our neighbors had some, I assumed that… What?”

She’s grinning up at him mischievously.

He’s about to repeat the question when she reaches up and grabs his collar, pulling his lips down to hers. For a split second he’s frozen, and then he’s kissing her back, his hands finding her waist, pulling her closer to him.

She had just meant to give him a friendly peck, but now her hands are in his hair and his tongue’s in her mouth, and he’s moving her backwards, pressing her into the wall. She moans into his mouth, and his hands tighten on her waist. His mouth moves against hers once more, and then he pulls back, his cheeks flushed and his hair disheveled.

“Perhaps all Christmas traditions aren’t ridiculous,” he says, his breath tickling her face.

She grins up at him, then reaches up and pushes him back slightly. He moves compliantly, and she steps over to the table, reaching into her purse and pulling something out, keeping it out of his view.

She steps back in front of him, her hands behind her back, her smile wide.

“I picked something up for you on the way home.”

She brings her hand up from behind her back, revealing another bough of mistletoe, tied with a bright green ribbon.

“Merry Christmas, Loki.”


End file.
